The Mathematical Imperative
RICHARD WHITE examines how
the rich countries are
losing the numbers battle

Spearhead - July 1995

WESTERN civilisation is rushing towards death. A unique achievement, the most glorious and stupendous upon this planet, is now in a state of what could be terminal sickness. All that we have nurtured, cherished and attained over several millennia now disappears beneath an avalanche of transient pleasure and eager insanity. It seems that we prefer madness to miracles.

Let us not be tricked by the superficial glamour and glitter of this new age. Life in many ways appears more comfortable and diverse than what our forefathers experienced. Opportunities seem endless. But rational reflection demands that we should consider this as similar to the decorations on a Christmas tree. After the brief festive season, they are removed, and the tree, already dead, is consigned to the refuse collector. The present is all-important and the future forgotten. The perfectly appropriate motto is: "Live for today, for tomorrow we die."

How has the peril come about? Certainly not at once. On the contrary, our enemies have been busy for a long time. It seems that the Fabian doctrine of Gradualism, dominant in certain intellectual circles two or three generations ago, has assumed its most sinister implications. This strategy has strong parallels with the techniques of the skilful poisoner.

This page leads to another feature published by the The Atlantic Monthly -- The Coming Anarchy by Robert D. Kaplan (February 1994 edition, at pages 44-76). Africa, says Kaplan, has become an explosive mix of "overpopulation" and corruption and disease -- not to mention virtually everything else the most talkative white supremacist might add to the list. The writer tells of visiting West Africa and seeing "young men everywhere -- hordes of them." These youth, he continues, are "like loose molecules in a very unstable social fluid, a fluid that was clearly on the verge of igniting." And in a comparison with British colonialism, Kaplan quotes a source who argues that "what we have now is something worse -- the revenge of the poor, of the social failures, of the people least able to bring up children in a modern society." But Kaplan's rather lengthy article is not about Africa alone -- he worries, too, about a Middle East-based Islamic movement that appeals to the masses and "spreads across artificial frontiers, fueled by mass migrations into the cities and a soaring birth rate."